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How did Beloved disappear?
In the novel, Beloved, who was murdered at the hands of her mother Sethe, haunts Sethe. For example, Sethe, Denver, and Paul D go to the neighborhood carnival, which happens to be Sethe's first social outing since killing her daughter.
Why does Beloved disappear at the end of the book?
Sethe concludes that Beloved must have been locked away by a lecherous white male who abused her. Denver remains convinced that Beloved is the ghost that once haunted 124, and she conceals from Sethe the fact that Beloved is now Paul D's lover.
Who kills Beloved Why?
Sethe killed Beloved because she did not want her daughter to be subjected to the trauma of slavery. Sethe had recently run away from Sweet Home, and white men from the plantation tracked her down in Cincinnati.
Does Beloved become pregnant?
At one point, Beloved seduces Paul D. After learning that Sethe killed her daughter, he leaves. The situation at 124 Bluestone worsens, as Sethe loses her job and becomes completely fixated on Beloved, who is soon revealed to be pregnant.
Where did Beloved go in the end?
Beloved concludes with a group of women from the local community converging on 124 to ward off the ghost that has been haunting it. After Beloved disappears, Paul D returns to the house intending to make amends. He finds Sethe lying in the bed where Baby Suggs died, distraught by Beloved's sudden disappearance.
Who kills the baby in Beloved?
After contemplating and weighing her options, Sethe decides that the only definite way to protect her children from being returned to slavery is to kill them. She is only successful in killing one of her children, a baby girl, and is haunted by her actions throughout the novel.
Why does Beloved get fat?
Like a parasite, Beloved begins to drain Sethe's life force. Sethe arrives at work later every morning until she loses her job. The food in the house begins to run low, and Sethe sacrifices her portion for Beloved, who grows fat while Sethe wastes away.
Who is the villain in Beloved?
Beloved herself is perhaps the most obvious antagonist of Beloved, since she is the character who most directly stands in Sethe's way. As a ghost she terrorizes Sethe and breaks up her family. When she appears in material form, she chases Paul D away and forms an unhealthy, codependent relationship with Sethe.
Is Beloved Sethe's daughter?
In a sense, Beloved is not only Sethe's daughter but her mother as well. Because Beloved is supernatural and represents the spirit of multiple people, Morrison doesn't develop her character as an individual. Beloved acts as a force rather than as a person, compelling Sethe, Denver, and Paul D to behave in certain ways.
Is Beloved the baby ghost?
Most scholars will go ahead and say that Beloved is the dead baby ghost. After all, the narrator tells the story as if Beloved is a ghost come back from the dead.
Is Beloved a succubus?
The title character in Toni Morrison's Beloved embodies the history and memory of rape. In fact, her supernatural form is the shape-shifting witch, derived by African Americans from the succubus, a female rapist and nightmare figure of European myth.
How old was Beloved when she was killed?
Beloved Sethe's third child and oldest daughter who was killed at the age of two. Her restless spirit haunts the family first as a ghost and then as a flesh-and-blood woman.
Why is Beloved a ghost?
The dominant interpretation is that Beloved is the ghost of Sethe's dead daughter, reincarnated in the form of a young woman to exact revenge on her mother for killing her. This is the interpretation that the characters in the novel accept.
What is the last sentence of novel Beloved?
Finally, the line “This is not a story to pass on,” although contradictory, makes sense within the context of slavery. The story of our nation's forgetfulness of slavery will not continue: we will remember.
Why does the novel end with the repetition of the phrase This is not a story to pass on?
Indeed, the novel's ending returns us to its opening dedication. The repetition of “This is not a story to pass on” throughout the last pages of the text remind us of the “Sixty Million and more” to which the novel is dedicated.
Why does Beloved see her own face?
In this scene, Beloved points to a spot in the darkness where she sees “her face.” “Me. It's me,” she tells Denver. Beloved may be conflating her identity with Sethe's, possibly because her premature death prevented her from forming an independent sense of self.
What does Beloved ask Sethe about?
Four weeks after Beloved's arrival: Beloved asks about Sethe's mother and about Sethe's "diamond earrings.". Five weeks after Beloved's arrival: Paul D presses Beloved for personal information. He reveals to Sethe that Halle observed the schoolteacher's nephews maul and molest her before her escape from Sweet Home.
What happens in the days or weeks that follow Beloved's disappearance?
In the days or weeks that follow Beloved's disappearance: Sethe takes to her bed. Paul D returns and helps her learn to live again.
What is Stamp Paid about in 1874?
1874 Stamp Paid reads a newspaper clipping to Paul D that tells the story of Beloved's murder. Paul D confronts Sethe about her deed and then leaves 124 Bluestone Rd. For six consecutive days, Stamp Paid approaches Sethe's door, each time leaving without knocking.
Where does Amy deliver Denver?
Monday: Sethe fears that Halle is dead. Amy helps deliver Denver in a lean-to near the Ohio River. Stamp Paid ferries the pair to a hut. Ella leads them to 124 Bluestone Road, where Baby Suggs tends Sethe's mutilated body.
What did the Garners learn about the Bodwins?
1838 The Garners learn of the Bodwins' kindness toward ex-slaves. Garner purchases Baby Suggs and Halle.
How does Toni Morrison structure her narrative?
Because Toni Morrison structures her narrative in circular form , events are revealed through the chance offerings of various speakers, usually long after the fact and out of time order. The following retelling of the plot restructures the events in approximate chronology, including certain historical events that support the plot.
What did Morrison marvel about slaves?
Rather, Morrison chooses to marvel that slaves who were brutalized beyond endurance were able to function as well as they did , especially after emancipation, when their expectations were high but their social station reflected little change from plantation days.
What does Beloved ask Sethe about diamonds?
Beloved asks what has happened to what she calls Sethe’s “diamonds.” Sethe replies that she once owned some crystal earrings given to her by Mrs. Garner for her wedding. She then recounts the story of her haphazard, patchwork wedding dress.
What does Sethe think about Paul D?
Sethe begins to think that with Paul D there to support her, she may be able to confront her past. There are other beginnings: Denver and Paul D begin to reconcile with each other, Sethe and Denver begin reconciliation with the community, and Paul D begins to feel at home in Cincinnati.
What does Paul D promise Sethe?
Paul D promises Sethe that she can safely reenter her past because he will be there to catch her if she falls. He invites Denver and Sethe to a carnival in town that is having a special day for blacks. At the carnival, Denver surprises herself by having a good time. The people they see there greet her casually, rather than showing her the contempt she expects. Because he is such an extrovert and so shamelessly thrilled by the carnival, Paul D is a hit with the other carnival-goers. He thus helps reintegrate Sethe and Denver into the community, and he makes a few acquaintances. He also inquires about getting a job. Paul D is amused by the spectacle of the supposed “Wild African Savage,” because he says he knew the man back in Roanoke. On the way to and from the carnival, the smell of rotting roses is overpowering. Also, both on the way there and on the way back, Sethe notices that the three shadows of Paul D, Denver, and herself overlap so as to appear to be holding hands. She interprets this as a promising sign that signals future happiness.
What does Sethe tell the girls about her mother?
Sethe remembers that her mother once took her aside and showed her a circle and a cross that had been burned into her skin. She said that Sethe could use these marks to identify her body if she died. When Sethe asked to be marked, too, her mother slapped her. Sethe tells the girls that she did not understand why her mother had done this until she had a mark of her own.
How does Denver hurt Paul D?
Denver hurts Paul D by asking him how long he plans to “hang around.”. Sethe is mortified by Denver’s behavior but refuses to allow Paul D to criticize her daughter. Paul D interprets this as a sign of intense motherly love and thinks it is dangerous for an ex-slave to love anything too much. Paul D has learned to love the individuals in his life ...
How long does Beloved sleep?
Beloved sleeps for four days, waking only to ask for water. While Beloved sleeps, Denver cares for her with a possessive devotion. Beloved’s presence makes Paul D uneasy. He remarks that although she acts and sounds sick, she does not show visible signs of ill health—the other day, he tells Sethe, he saw her pick up a rocking chair with one hand. He claims that Denver was also watching, but when he asks Denver for confirmation, she denies having seen any such thing.
What does "beloved" mean in the book?
Although Beloved appears on the surface to be a woman, she resembles a baby in many ways. She does not walk steadily, her speech is impaired, she does not have full control over her bodily functions, and she sleeps constantly. Beloved also represents the untrained and undisciplined desire of an infant.
What happens when Sethe is with Beloved?
When she is with Beloved, Sethe is paralyzed in the past. She devotes all her attention to making Beloved understand why she reacted to schoolteacher’s arrival the way she did.
What does "beloved" mean in chapter 26?
By Chapter 26, Beloved and Sethe have switched places, with Beloved acting as the mother and Sethe as the child. Their role reversal may simply mark more explicitly what has been Beloved’s role all along. On a more general level, Beloved may also stand for all of the slaves who made the passage across the Atlantic.
What does Beloved know about Sethe's earrings?
A third interpretation views Beloved as a representation of Sethe’s dead mother.
What chapter does Beloved recount memories?
In Chapter 22, Beloved recounts memories that correspond to those that Sethe’s mother might have had of her passage to America from Africa. Beloved has a strange manner of speaking and seems to wear a perpetual smile—traits we are told were shared by Sethe’s mother.
What does "beloved" mean?
On a more general level, Beloved may also stand for all of the slaves who made the passage across the Atlantic. She may give voice to and embody the collective unconscious of all those oppressed by slavery’s history and legacy. Beloved is presented as an allegorical figure.
What is the meaning of "beloved" in the book?
But these traits could also support the theory that is held by most of the characters in the novel, as well as most readers: Beloved is the embodied spirit of Sethe’s dead daughter. Beloved is the age the baby would have been had it lived, and she bears the name printed on the baby’s tombstone.
Is Beloved gone?
Although Beloved vanishes at the end of the book, she is never really gone—her dress and her story, forgotten by the town but preserved by the novel, remain. Beloved represents a destructive and painful past, but she also signals the possibility of a brighter future.
What happens to Sethe after Beloved's departure?
After Beloved’s departure, 124 seems to become a normal household. Sethe has mostly lost her mind, but Denver is working and learning, hoping one day to attend college. Paul D returns to 124 and promises to always care for Sethe. The inhabitants of 124 and the surrounding community gradually forget about Beloved entirely, even those who saw and talked to her.
Why does Sethe go out of the house?
Denver ventures out of the house in search of work, to try to get food and provide for the household. She goes to the house of the Bodwins, who once helped Baby Suggs settle at 124, and tells their maid Janey about Beloved and the situation at 124. The community rallies together to supply food to 124.
What does Sethe believe about her dead child?
The novel follows Sethe’s stream of consciousness as Sethe maintains that her killing her child was an act of love. Sethe believes that Beloved is the returned spirit of her dead child. The novel then follows the thoughts of Denver and Beloved.
What happened at 124 in the book?
They gather around 124 and break into song, in a kind of exorcism. Mr. Bodwin approaches the house and Sethe mistakes him for Schoolteacher.
Why does Stamp Paid go to 124?
Feeling guilty for causing Paul D to leave Sethe, Stamp Paid goes to 124 to talk to Sethe. But she does not come to the door. Stamp Paid hears strange voices from the house and sees Beloved through a window. Within the house, Beloved causes Sethe to remember more and more of her painful past.
Why was Denver named Denver?
Sethe named Denver after the kind white woman. Paul D recalls his experience working on a chain gang. He and the other slaves eventually escaped together and had their chains cut by a group of Cherokee. Paul D wandered north and stayed with a kind woman in Delaware for some time, but he was unable to settle.
Where does Sethe take Beloved and Denver?
Missing Baby Suggs, Sethe takes Beloved and Denver to the clearing in the woods where Baby Suggs used to have spiritual gatherings before she fell into her exhausted state. Sethe wishes that Baby Suggs were there to rub her neck and suddenly she feels other-worldly fingers massaging her neck.
What is the LitCharts theme in Beloved?
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Beloved, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work. Paul D recalls his time working on a chain gang in Georgia: he is chained together to 45 other men who work all day and sleep in wooden boxes like cages.
Why do chain gangs sing?
As the chain gang work, they sing to make it bearable. They sing in words their masters cannot understand. Often, men want to run or simply give up and go crazy, but they don’t because they are all chained together and rely on each other.
What did the Cherokee bring out in the book of the Cherokee?
The Cherokee bring out axes and cut the prisoners’ chains. The slaves gradually leave, until Paul D is the last one left. He goes north and doesn’t stop until he gets to Delaware. There, he finds “the weaver lady” with whom he stays. He reflects that it took him a long time to put this painful past away in the tobacco tin, so that “nothing in this world could pry it open.”
What is the Cherokee people?
The Cherokee are a people as abused and disenfranchised as the slaves. Once free, Paul D does not know where to go, except generally north. He is free, but without a home. After his painful experiences, Paul D had to put the past behind him and repress his memories in order to survive.
What happens when the chain gang stops working?
One day, a huge rain storm begins. The chain gang has to stop working. As the rain continues, the ground floods and dirt turns to mud. Someone yanks the chain and Paul D falls to the ground. Somehow, all the prisoners understand. They dive through the mud and are able to crawl under the fence enclosing the area where they are kept.
How does the chain gang illustrate the importance of community in dealing with the horrors of slavery?
Again, the chain gang illustrates the importance of community in dealing with the horrors of slavery. Through singing, the prisoners express themselves in a way that their masters cannot understand, finding a small area of experience outside of their masters’ control.
What is Paul D's experience on the chain gang?
Paul D’s experience on the chain gang is an example of the cruelty of slavery and also a symbolic microcosm of the institution of slavery: like the members of a chain gang, slaves are held together in bondage, but this shared oppression creates a strong community out of their shared suffering. Active Themes.
